ANTI-SEMITISM AND THE
CHURCH

This lesson was
prepared by the Randy Felton for use by him and his students in
lecture classes. Randy simplifies what the scholars say, and
writes simply and easily. This lesson was included in a book
called The Jewish Roots of Christianity by Rev. Felton. Randy is
founder of Potter's Clay Ministries, Inc., 417 NW 42nd Street,
Oklahoma City, OK 73118. Randy is available as a speaker, and was
a speaker at our September 1996 conference.

The first century
contained a Judaism with many sects. Today is not much different.
There may be different names but sects still exist and operate.
During the first century, there were five primary groups that we
are going to look at. These are not all by any means, but are the
ones we will be studying for now.

PHARISEES - Ruling
sect, clung steadfast to tradition
SADDUCEES - They drew their inspiration primarily from Temple
worship
ESSENES - They withdrew to the wilderness to await the Messiah.
Qumran is believed by many to be one of their communities.
NAZARENES - Also known as "Followers of the Way" or
"The Way." Led by Paul after Jesus ascension.
ZEALOTS - Nationalists seeking to free Israel from Roman control
The Zealots ceased to be around the years 66-70 A.D. This was the
group that Judas Iscariot belonged to and that met it's end when
the first Jewish revolt was put down. This is the time the Temple
was destroyed and has yet to be rebuilt. The Jewish Revolt also
led to the end of the Sadducees... no Temple to worship at, and
the Essenes also disappeared at this time. This left, primarily,
the Pharisees and the Nazarenes.

The church began
within Judaism as an all Jewish sect. Very few Gentiles converted
but with the sending forth of Peter and Paul, this began to
change rapidly. After the destruction of the Temple there was a
great dispersion. The Pharisees had basically rejected "The
Way" and the Gospel was sent to the Gentiles. Romans,
chapter eleven explains how the Gentile was grafted into the
roots of Judaism. During these trying times, Jews often hid
Christians from persecution. The ties were very close and
followers of "The Way" were seen as family.

A second Jewish revolt
occurred during the years 132 to 135 A.D. This is also known as
the Bar Kokaba Revolt led by the man of the same name. Bar Kokaba
proclaimed himself to be the Messiah and shortly thereafter,
Rabbi Akida confirmed his claim, thus adding validity to the
revolt. This left Jewish Christians with a dilemma; join the
revolt and deny Jesus as Messiah or withhold support and be seen
as traitors by the brethren. They chose to stay out of the
revolt. This caused a breach within the two communities and
further separated the Christians from the Jews. The hostilities
that developed were the beginning of Anti-Judaism which is still
with us. This separation partly aided in the outreach to the
Gentile nations but caused a very wide chasm between the church
and it's roots.

The Church begins to
define itself apart from Judaism beginning about 160 A.D., the
time of Justin Martyr. The Church began to turn arrogant and,
during the second, third and fourth centuries, Greek thought
swept into the Church like a flood. A whole series of events led
to the de- Judaising of the Church. Unfortunately, Christian
hostility toward Judaism also developed hostility toward the
Jews. There were scattered occurrences of Jews and Christians
shielding one another from persecution, but it was the exception
and not the rule. Hostilities and persecutions grew and the Jews
rapidly became the minority wherever they were. In 1879 the term
Anti-Semitism was coined by Wilheim Marr. Marr was a German
political agitator describing Jews as a different
"race." This was the first recorded time this concept
was expressed. Anti-Semitism is a 19th-20th century phenomenon.
The hostility from ancient times is best described as
Anti-Judaism. What seems to be Anti-Jewish in scripture is an
"Intra-Family" device used to win Jews by Jews. In the
second century, it became Anti-Jewish to win Gentiles by
Gentiles. In the first place, we have Jews against Jews; in the
second, we have Gentiles against Jews. The loss of Jerusalem was
seen as evidence of God's rejection of the Jew. The early church
fathers saw the suffering of the Jewish people as directly
related to their "sin" of rejecting Jesus as Messiah.
In the fourth century, the Church began to read the scripture
designating all blessings to the Church and all curses to the
Jews.

After the second
Jewish Revolt, Judaism lost it's status as a legal religion in
Rome. Jews were subsequently banned from Jerusalem. It was later,
in the fourth century that Constantine made Christianity the
official religion of the Roman Empire. Jews lost many rights with
this edict. Jews were no longer permitted to dwell in Jerusalem
and by 339 A.D., it was considered a criminal offense to convert
to Judaism. Later, in 380 A.D., the bishop of Milan caused the
burning of a Synagogue and referred to it as "an act
pleasing to God." In their zealousness to keep Gentiles from
being drawn into Jewish worship and law, early Church fathers
began to attack Jews and Judaism from their pulpits and in their
writings.

To deal with Old
Testament scriptures, New Testament thought was read
"into" rather than "out of" the Biblical
text. This rendered the Tanakh little more than allegory. As
Christians began to "spiritualize" the scriptures, they
tended to treat unconverted Jews with more hostility.

During the Middle
Ages, the Jews created separate lives due to the community, i.e.
dress, habits, social restrictions, etc. The Church viewed them
as useful primarily as money lenders. The scriptures forbade
lending with usuary, Christians did not consider this applicable
to the Jews. The Jews found this offensive, but were pressed into
this service and later despised for the positions they held as a
result. The Jews were also required to wear distinctive hats or
sew on patches. Isolated from larger society, accusations were
soon to follow. Jews were said to have a peculiar smell, not the
"odor of sanctity." They were said to be the sucklers
of sows and called Christ killers. The Jews were accused of being
"desecrators of the host," they were presumed to
secretly enter Churches to pierce the Holy Wafer and let the
"real blood" of Jesus flow out. They were also accused
of killing Christian infants and using their blood for their
Passover wine. Jews were accused of poisoning the wells and
causing the Black Plague which killed one-third of Europe's
population. . . All False.

In the year 1096 A.D.,
Pope Urban II called for the liberation of the Holy Land from the
Muslims and the Crusades were born. On the way to wage war
against the Infidels, many began to wonder why they should wait
until they reached the Holy Land. They could rid the world of the
Christ killers as they went. The Jews suffered greatly.
Meanwhile, the rabble and ne'er- do-wells, who were unfit as
soldiers, fulfilled their imaginary duty by falling on nearby
Jewish villages. This was done all across Europe, killing and
raping hapless Jews, leaving Synagogues burning in their wake.
Just as at Massada, many Jews chose suicide rather than forced
conversions. Death or conversion was the only choice given those
caught. One form of trial to test the converted Jews was the
"Trial by Water" or "Water Test." After the
suspect was bound he/she was cast into a body of water, either a
lake, stream or pond. The liars were said to float, whereby they
were executed. The truthful sank and promptly drowned...how
convenient!

One of the first waves
of Crusaders to arrive in the Holy Land began to search for the
infidels. Upon approaching a village, they were met by a party of
men, well dressed in flowing robes and armed for battle. The
Crusaders fell upon them and killed them all with little
resistance. Upon entering the village, they learned from the
women that they were Christians coming out to join with them. The
only excuse offered was the question, What right do Christians
have to wear turbans?

In the year 1099 A.D.,
the Crusaders besieged Jerusalem. During this time, the Crusaders
herded the Jews into a central Synagogue and set it on fire. The
soldiers formed a ring around the Synagogue holding their shields
emblazoned with the Cross and singing hymns. Anyone who tried to
escape was prodded back inside by the lances of the brave and
noble knights. Can it be any wonder that the Jew finds it
offensive when he sees a banner proclaiming a crusade coming to
his city? Christians need to rethink some of their terms and
their origins.

The next event of note
was the European expulsion of Jews. England began to expel Jews
in 1306, followed by Spain, Germany and Austria. Later, in 1492,
the Inquisition began. This occurred the same year the "New
World" was found by Christopher Columbus. Our home was being
discovered while the European Jews were losing theirs! Thousands
of Jews were tortured and burned at the stake. Finally, the Jews
were ordered to convert to Christianity or leave Spain; more than
150,000 fled. They became wandering nomads, finally settling in
North Africa and around the Mediterranean. Many converted openly,
but secretly remained Jews and became known as Marranos.

In the year 1523,
Martin Luther issued a tract, That Jesus Was Born a Jew,"
with high hopes of converting the Jews. They did not respond as
desired and his attitude changed toward them. Twenty years later,
in 1543, Luther was writing such tracts as On Jews and Their
Lies." Luther called for Jews to be permanently driven out
of the land.

In the later part of
the nineteenth century, there were six million Jews in Czarist
Russia, the largest Jewish population in the world. With the
onslaught of vicious pogroms, thousands died and many more fled.
Between 1880 and 1910, more than two million immigrated to
America. The year 1894 saw the "Dreyfus Affair." Alfred
Dreyfus, a Jew serving in the French Military, was accused of
giving secret documents to the Germans and was convicted for
being a traitor. After being imprisoned, he was finally
exonerated and drew the world's attention to the problem of Anti-
Semitism. A few years later there are again pogroms in Europe and
Russia followed with World War II and the Nazis.

Could these things
have been avoided if the Church remembered it's Jewish roots? It
is sad to think that we do not teach our history in our churches,
rather it is taught in the Synagogue.